A 39-year-old Dutch commercial diver died yesterday (9 May) during preliminary operations to recover the Bayesian superyacht, which sank at a depth of 50m off the coast of Porticello, Sicily, last August.
At the time of the incident, the dive-team had been using a blowtorch to cut the 56m yacht’s boom away from the wreckage prior to removing the mast. Some reports indicate that the diver, now named as Rob Cornelis Maria Huijben, might have been struck by a piece of metal during this process, though preliminary examinations of his body were said to reveal no obvious signs of injury or burns.
Underwater camera footage was said to have cut off shortly before the incident. It remained a possibility that Huijben had suffered a medical emergency while under water, according to investigators.
The Bayesian, owned by British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, had gone down during a violent storm, killing seven people including Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah. They had been on a voyage around Sicily to celebrate Lynch’s acquittal following fraud charges relating to the sale of his company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard.
The estimated £23 million salvage operation is being conducted by Hebo Maritiemservice, a Dutch specialist salvage company, in collaboration with UK-based marine consultancy TMC Marine.
Huijben was part of a 70-person team deployed to Sicily to assist in the recovery effort, which is being supervised by the Italian Coast Guard and is expected to last up to four weeks.
The Sicilian authorities have launched a formal inquiry into the diver’s death, with all parties including Hebo Maritiemservice and TMC Marine pledging their full co-operation. “We are giving every support to the salvage team on-site at this heartbreaking time, and our thoughts are with the family of the deceased,” said a TMC Marine representative.
Encrypted hard-drives
The attempt to lift the Bayesian off the seabed is scheduled to take place later this month, with experts hoping to uncover more details about how the supposedly unsinkable vessel sank so rapidly.
The yacht’s recovery is considered crucial for ongoing investigations, with reports suggesting that it might contain encrypted hard-drives linked to Lynch’s alleged past collaborations with UK and US intelligence agencies.
After the sinking, six bodies were eventually found in cabins on Bayesian’s port side, which was uppermost when she sank. Lynch’s lawyer and his wife Chris & Neda Morvillo, Morgan Stanley International chair and his wife Jonathan & Judy Bloomer and yacht chef Recaldo Thomas were the other victims.
A UK court has reopened an inquest, with an interim report expected in the next two months. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), which is leading the investigation, plans to release findings on the yacht’s stability and weather conditions at the time of the incident. At 72m, the Bayesian carried the world's tallest aluminium yacht mast.
Menawhile a manslaughter probe examining the possibility of negligence on the part of crew is continuing in Sicily.
Also on Divernet: Sicily diver finds shallow rudder, deep gun, Sicily divers probe 2,500-year-old shipwreck, Divers raise ‘Atlantis gold’ shipwreck in Sicily, Ustica: Sicily’s diving jewel
